Aspects of the present invention are directed to a valve and, more particularly, to a valve including a multilayer wear plate.
Multilayer articles are used in a wide variety of applications where different metals are utilized to provide the articles with different sets of properties. For example, an article can be formed from steel to provide strength, hardness and rigidity. For extreme environments, such as high temperature and/or corrosive or oxidizing environments, stainless steel or more exotic alloys can provide resistance to corrosion or oxidation.
In some applications, such as where an article has a metallic wear surface that is in sliding engagement or contact with the surface of another component, the surface of the metallic article may not provide adequate lubricity to meet the wear needs of the application. In such cases, a wear layer can be disposed on the appropriate surface of the article to provide the desired wear surface properties. Polymeric layers, such as layers of fluoropolymers may be used for such wear surface applications. However, polymers are often not suitable for high temperature applications like those found in aircraft air management systems. Indeed, valves in these systems are required to be operable at elevated temperatures in excess of 300° C. and with high vibration modes with little or no lubrication. As such, wear out of critical sliding components in these valves (i.e., the valve wear plate) is common and can degrade valve performance.